Galatians 5 and the War with the Flesh

The Apostle Paul gives a succinct summary of our war with the flesh in Galatians 5:16-25, “But I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law” (Gal 5:16-18).

Your flesh, your old self, your body of sin was put to death; “crucified with Christ” (Rom 6:6). But like the bad guy in a horror movie, he never quite goes away for good. He somehow keeps coming back from the dead, as it were, to wage war with our new Spirit; the Spirit of God living in us. This ongoing war between our flesh and our Spirit is one of the main sources of our struggle with sin.

Paul writes in Galatians 5 that because the flesh and the Spirit are in such strong opposition, we cannot serve these two influences at the same time. If we are walking in the Spirit, following the influence of the Spirit, we will not serve the flesh, we will not continue in sin. We will not engage in sin as our normal practice. How can we tell which influence we are walking in? Paul goes on to explain.

“Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envyings, drunkenness, carousings, and things like these, of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal 5:19-21).

Paul is not saying that anyone who has done these things will not enter heaven. He is listing these things as a picture of what a lost person looks like. The one who is not a member of the kingdom of God is characterized by these kinds of activities. This is what the flesh – “deeds of the flesh” – look like. And if you participate in these desires of the flesh, you will look like a lost person.

But you, the redeemed, do not need to look like this. Because this is not the fruit of the Spirit who lives inside you. This is not your “natural look” as a believer. What is the fruit, the “natural look” of the believer in Christ? Let’s read on.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law”(Gal 5:22-23).

Notice the last phrase, “against such things there is no law”. How many times have we memorized these verses with no idea of what that last phrase means? This phrase hearkens back to verse 18, “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.” The Law is basically a flesh-based system. That is, keeping the Law was a willpower effort to keep the commands. It was drumming up enough good effort to overcome the deeds of the flesh that were condemned by the Law. And that is what the Law was, a ministry of condemnation that said, “Don’t do that; don’t do this; don’t touch, etc.” It was all condemnation without power.

But this all changed with the coming of the New Covenant. “Therefore, my brethren, you were also made to die to the Law, through the body of Christ…But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter” (Rom 7:4,6). We must not fall back into a law-based system of condemnation, “for there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1). Trying to live the victorious Christian life by the effort of the flesh is a return to the Law of which we have been set free (Gal 5:18).

Being led by the Spirit is the exact opposite of keeping the Law. It is going from negative injunctions with no power to positive qualities implanted by God’s Spirit. There is no law involved in practicing the fruits of the Spirit because they are not commands to keep, but qualities to unwrap; fruit that is already in you, ready for display.

A fruit tree is genetically bound to produce a certain kind of fruit. It cannot produce any other. We are genetically bound by our new birth to produce a certain kind of fruit, the fruit of the Spirit; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. But our fruit production is not automatic. Just as a fruit tree’s production can be diminished by disease, our practice of the Spirit’s fruit can be hindered by our war with the flesh. What can we do when the flesh attacks our fruit tree like aphids on steroids? Let’s read on.

“Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit” (Gal 5:24-25). Our fruit tree will be productive because our flesh was crucified once and for all at the cross and we are continuing to crucify the flesh daily by choosing to walk in the Spirit. It is a paradox, but true. Our flesh was killed once for all and we must continue to crucify the flesh each day by our choices. How can “once for all” and “every day” both be true? Welcome to the beauty of the mystery of God!

And part of that beauty is that God, having killed the flesh once and for all at the cross, has also given you incredible resurrection power to continue crucifying the flesh when needed. It is called “walking by the Spirit” (vs 25). “But since the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who lives in you. So then, brethren, we are under no obligation to live according to the flesh” (Rom 8:11-12). As Dwight Edwards has summarized, “Resurrection power is always greater than the dysfunctionality of our past, the wounds of abuse or neglect, the power of sin, the pressure of outward circumstances, or the phobias of our personal inadequacies.”